George Russell seized pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix Sprint at Zandvoort, outpacing Lando Norris in a thrilling resumption of the 2026 Formula 1 season after the summer break.
The Mercedes driver delivered a stellar lap time of 1:11.567 to edge out McLaren rival Lando Norris by just 0.041 seconds, with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc rounding out the top three positions.
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SubscribeThe session saw intense drama across all three knockout rounds, beginning with early trouble for Kimi Antonelli who briefly drifted into the gravel before recovering to secure his spot further down the grid.
Aston Martin endured a difficult outing as Fernando Alonso struggled with pace and finished slowest in SQ1, compounding a frustrating session that also saw early exits for Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz.
Lawson and Tsunoda Fall Short in SQ2 Drama
As the grid finalized for Saturday's race, attention quickly turned to how Russell and Norris would manage the opening corners at the challenging Dutch circuit under intense pressure from their rivals.
Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda both missed out on a spot in SQ2 after a tightly contested middle qualifying segment at the Zandvoort circuit.
Lawson narrowly failed to advance in his Red Bull machinery, missing the cutoff by four-tenths of a second while Tsunoda followed closely behind in his Racing Bulls car.
Traffic and impeding incidents further complicated the session, notably involving a near miss between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen as drivers fought for clean track space.